TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Westminster Bound

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: February 7, 2009

SPRING HILL - The NFL had its big show. Now it's time for the Super Bowl of dog shows, and two Spring Hill dogs will compete with the help of two local handlers.

"This is what we work for," said Morgan Brooks, a 23-year-old Spring Hill resident who has been showing dogs for 13 years.

Brooks and Christina Choffy, also 23 and a veteran handler, are headed to the 2009 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. The show is this Monday and Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

Choffy, of New Port Richey, will show Sisqo, an 8-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier, or "AmStaff," she owns with her mother, Cathy Choffy, of Spring Hill and Lisa Tremblay of Brooksville.

The Choffys breed and raise AmStaffs and Bull Mastiffs for their family business called Patriot Pups. Christina Choffy is a graduate of Hudson High School and works as a receptionist for VCA Little Animal Hospital in Hudson.

Brooks will show Uba, a 6-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback owned by Deborah and Joseph Rocco of Spring Hill.

The nation's top dogs are automatically guaranteed a spot in the show, which features 2,486 dogs and 170 breeds. Other spots were doled out in a lottery, and both women got lucky after Deborah Rocco entered the lottery.

Uba and Sisqo, like their handlers, have been around the ring a few times, winning piles of ribbons and enough points on the dog show circuit to earn "champion" status, a prerequisite to enter the Westminster show by lottery.

Uba at one point was ranked among the top five Ridgebacks in the country, an achievement Choffy helped bring about by showing him often.
Sisqo was in the top 20 of his breed for three years in a row and won an award of merit at the Eukanuba show in Tampa in 2005.

Next week's appearance in the Westminster show, however, is a first for the dogs and their handlers.

"I thought it would be a long time ago, but it didn't work out that way," said Choffy, who entered the ring for the first time at the age of 8. "Not many people have that opportunity."
Show dogs reach their prime at about the age of 4, and both dogs were considered retired. Sisqo is aging well, however. He took best of breed at a recent Ocala competition meant to get him used to the ring again.

"The judges couldn't believe he was 8 years old," Cathy Choffy said.

He also has "mellowed" over the years, she said.

"He would act like he had never walked into the ring," she added.

Christina Choffy admits Sisqo tends to "do his own thing" in the ring, but it seems to work.

"He knows what to do," she said.

The Am Staff, part of the terrier group, are thought to be a cross between an English bulldog and a game terrier breed that became known as Staffordshire Bull Terrier in England, according to the American Kennel Club. When accepted for AKC registration in 1936, the name changed to American Staffordshire Terrier to reflect the heavier American type and to distinguish them as separate breeds.

The dogs have a stocky body, strong, powerful head and a short coat. They're "courageous and strong (with an) athletic build and intelligence that make him ideally suited to many dog sports," the AKC says.

A native of South Africa, the Rhodesian Ridgeback is a large, muscular dog bred by farmers to serve as a hunting dog in the wilds. The breed gets its name from the trademark ridge down the center of the back.

While Cathy Choffy compared Westminster to the Super Bowl, Deborah Rocco had her own analogy.

"It's like going to the Academy Awards," she said. "It's a dream come true."

Uba was the Roccos' first show dog. Deborah Rocco said she feels confident Brooks will bring out the best in Uba, who has an affinity for women.

"She's a very capable handler and she has a rapport with him," she said. "He's our ladies man."

In addition to her professional handling duties, Brooks is a full-time groomer at County Line Animal Hospital and attends Pasco-Hernando Community College with plans to be a veterinarian. In her first show, the dog urinated on the judge. That didn't douse her desire to keep showing, especially since the dog still won best of breed.

"I love competing, going out there in the ring, and that thrill of knowing I put in so much effort and the judge saw it," Brooks said.

Dogs on the tube

Portions of the 2009 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be televised. Here's the schedule:

•Monday, Feb. 9, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Hound, Terrier, Non-Sporting and Herding Groups, live on USA Network; 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. live on CNBC.

•Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.: sporting, working and toy groups, Best In Show, live on USA Network.

Breed judging highlight videos are available throughout the day on Monday and Tuesday on the Westminster Web site, westminsterkennelclub.org. These highlights will also be available after the show.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT